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"Your Highness, the news from the northwest has arrived!" As soon as Ying Da entered the door of the study, he immediately bowed down and reported, although his voice was still steady, but it was still inevitably with a slight trill.

"Oh?" Li Zhen raised his eyebrows, sighed lightly, stretched out his hand to take the small copper pipe in the hand of the eagle, and lifted the hidden buckle on the small copper pipe, just one look, his brows wrinkled - the letter is very long, the news is really a little shocking, the first one is that Xue Yantuo Khan Yinan has vomited blood and died on the eighth day of the third month of the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, and when he was dying, he designated Bazhuo as the new Khan, but all the sons were not convinced, and Bazhuo killed the princes of the Golden Horde, it was night, and the killing was not counted, Among the sons of Yi Nan, only Dadu, who had not gone to the Golden Horde to mourn, was spared, and raised the anti-flag, notified all the departments of the grassland, and crusaded against the murderous maniac, and now the brothers are fighting fiercely, and the war is about to break out; Second, this winter and early spring were cold, and sudden heavy snowfall caused serious damage to northern Xinjiang, although the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate urgently allocated grain and grass for relief, but because of the scattered nomadic tribes, the disaster was not light, and if there was no internal support, it was very difficult to carry out the predetermined battle plan.

Looks like there's a big problem! Li Zhen knew that Lin Chenghe and others were not afraid of war, and this time it was difficult to raise grain and grass, and the damage to the snow disaster in northern Xinjiang must be extremely heavy, but I was afraid that it might not be able to slow down in autumn, so that it would be difficult to realize the strategic plan of sweeping the grassland, unless it was the use of the Mongolian light cavalry in later generations, and the tactics of eating the enemy and sweeping away everywhere they passed, there was a possibility of success, the problem is that Li Zhen's position is now very embarrassing. We must always be careful to guard against the suspicion of the old man and the criticism of the courtiers, and never allow such inhumane tactics to be used, besides, the original planned battle plan was that as long as the two brothers started a war, the Northern Xinjiang army would cross the Altai Mountains in the name of holding the calf and hoarding the alliance, and then take advantage of the situation to eliminate the main force of Bazhuo, so as to control the steppe under the blade of the Tang army. But now all this has become a fantasy with the sudden heavy snowfall, and Li Zhen really can't make up her mind about what to do next.

People are selfish, Li Zhenzi is no exception, although the northwest strategy agreed with his old man is a conservative policy to consolidate the border, but Li Zhen still has the ambition to sweep the grassland, not only because Xue Yantuo is the best time to take the grassland when the civil strife is the time, but also because of a very hidden plan - Xue Yantuo is located in an extremely vast territory, its west is actually very close to Guanzhong, after Xiazhou can go straight to Guanzhong, when the Eastern Turks entered the Central Plains, it was Xiazhou County, this whole road, The only one that can be conducive to holding only the two passes of Xiazhou and Longzhou, if you can conquer Xue Yantuo by force, the soldiers of Anxi can stay in the prairie, in case there is a change in Beijing, Li Zhenzi will not worry about having no troops to adjust, the secrecy of this is not enough for outsiders, therefore, although Li Shimin does not support the strategy of sending troops to the prairie, but Li Zhen is still ready to send troops in private, for this reason, Li Zhen not only managed to raise some grain and grass from Guanzhong through the "Yanji Firm" to transport Anxi, He also bought a large number of military rations from Shao Wujiu surnamed Guo with a lot of money, but unfortunately in the face of natural disasters, all these efforts have come to naught, of course, this is also related to the catastrophe that Northern Xinjiang has just experienced last year, and the people's livelihood has not yet recovered, otherwise, although a snow disaster is big, it may not necessarily shake the foundation of Northern Xinjiang, but in any case, the opportunity for a large-scale attack on Northern Xinjiang is extremely slim now, and the rest can only be to see how to make Xue Yantuo completely messed up as much as possible.

Headache, head really hurt, the idea is to think of one after another, but I always feel that there is always something lacking, after all, Li Zhen has left Anxi for nearly a year, even if there is a means of flying pigeons to keep in touch, but it is obviously impossible to fully control all kinds of situations, how can the military family be a child's play, one is not careful, the reputation of the invincible Anxi Iron Army will be damaged, once this is the case, the northern Xinjiang, which was barely settled down, is afraid that there will be trouble again, and this is a situation that Li Zhen absolutely does not want to face, After thinking hard for a long time, Li Zhen sighed helplessly, glanced at Ying Da next to him, and said a little lonely: "Reply to Anxi, all matters are decided by the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, and we must act on the basis of ensuring the stability of northern Xinjiang, if we can make Xue Yantuo's civil strife drag on until next year, it will be considered a great success, even if we can't, we must try to extend its civil war to October, this is the bottom limit, there must be no mistakes, go!" ”

"Yes." Yingda originally thought that Li Zhen would definitely wave the grassland this time, and originally thought that he could go into battle again, but he never thought that Li Zhen's decision would be like this, and he was quite disappointed in his heart, but he didn't dare to say anything, so he replied respectfully, and then withdrew from the study, and went to arrange relevant matters without mentioning it.

"Let's see how Chai Zhewei responds." After Yingda left, Li Zhen sat stunned for a while, shook her head helplessly, put the matter behind, got up, slowly walked out of the study, and walked to the apse......

On the third day of the fourth month of the nineteenth year of Zhenguan, the sky is about to be clear, the Gaochang City where the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate is located is very lively, from time to time you can see a burst of smoke and dust rolling up outside the city, and then a mighty general rushed into the city under the support of a large group of guards, and then it attracted a large group of people in Gaochang City to watch and welcome, it is not surprising that these famous generals can only return to Gaochang City once a year during the Qingming Festival, in order to sacrifice the martyrs who died in battle, The people of the city have heard storytellers comment on the great achievements of these Anxi generals on weekdays, and it is not surprising that they can see real people at this time.

At the end of the three o'clock, the Tiger Festival Hall of the Metropolitan Hufu was already full of bright stars, high-ranking officials like clouds, high-level generals and civil officials in Anxi were all gathered together, Lin Ting, Sha Feihuo, Liu Whirlwind, Xiao Dalong and other important generals were impressively listed, everyone gathered into a dozen small circles, happily discussing - everyone has not seen each other for nearly a year, this time they finally got together, and they have endless things to say, but although everyone laughed and talked about the mountain, they were all sensitive to find the six giants of Anxi - Chai Zhewei, Liu Qi, Qin Wenhua, Lin Chenghe, Dong Qianli and Chen Wu never showed up, but everyone was curious, but no one dared to be dissatisfied with this, so they could only hold their curiosity in their hearts and joke with each other to pass the unbearable waiting time.

Compared with the liveliness of the Tiger Festival Hall, the secret room of the study where the Big Six are located is a dead silence, since Chai Zhewei read out the instructions sent by Li Zhen, everyone has collectively fallen into silence - the big guys are all understanding people, and they all know the importance of this discussion, and before they are absolutely sure, no one wants to rush to open this head, so the secret room has become a silent backwater, only the heavy breath is constantly accumulating, and there is gradually a feeling of breathlessness.

Seeing that everyone didn't speak, Chai Zhewei immediately became a little anxious, however, on such occasions, as the nominal supreme governor of Anxi, Chai Zhewei couldn't say anything - today's Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate has actually been divided into two independent systems in the south and north, although Chai Zhewei is said to be the governor of the capital, he can't actually manage the affairs of northern Xinjiang, and besides, everyone present followed Li Zhen to fight out of the fierce generals, in terms of the close relationship with Li Zhen, compared to Chai Zhewei, who became a monk halfway, it is actually taller. Although Chai Zhewei's decrees have been unimpeded in the past year, it is not due to Chai Zhewei's own prestige, but by relying on the authority granted by Li Zhen. But it's not a matter of being so silent, and in desperation, Chai Zhewei had no choice but to quietly glance at Liu Qi, who was sitting diagonally opposite, and signaled Liu Qi to take the lead in coming out.

Liu Qi is a steady and resolute man, he has never been a person who is afraid of things, but because of this fact is too important, it is not only related to the stability of Anxi, but also related to the national policy of the Tang Dynasty, Liu Qizi did not dare to speak easily, and moreover, Li Zhen arranged him to the high position of deputy governor, that is, he was to inherit the upper and lower levels, to maintain the stability and unity of Anxi, at this time when all the generals were cautious, Liu Qi was more cautious, and originally planned to reconcile it as appropriate after the generals expressed their attitudes. But he never thought that the big guys were silent, Chai Zhewei couldn't sit still, this look made him, whether Liu Qi wanted it or not, he Liu Qi had to open this head, and in desperation, he had to clear his throat and said: "Everyone, Your Highness has an order, asking us to consolidate the border defense, if you have any opinions, please speak up." ”

Liu Qi is a veteran general born in the personal guards, in terms of seniority, among the generals present, only Chen Wu is equivalent to him, as soon as he opens his mouth like this, the generals have to give some face no matter what they say, the first to speak is Dong Qianli, who has worked with Liu Qi, but seeing Dong Qianli's eyebrows, he reached out and touched the smooth and slippery brain door, hehe Yile said: "Xue Yantuo's gang of people are not beaten, the left and right are helping local chickens and dogs, you can't get on the scene, you don't need to worry about anything, a certain self-led 20,000 rangers are enough to sweep the grassland, This battle can be fought! ”

The military strength of the entire Anxi, not counting the local garrison troops, has a total of more than 115,000 regular troops, of which there are 55,000 soldiers in southern Xinjiang, in addition to more than 10,000 elite guards in Gaochang City, where the capital is located, there are nearly 30,000 main forces deployed in various strategic points bordering Tibet, and the rest are scattered in all directions, while northern Xinjiang is different, most of the 60,000 elites are concentrated in the Altai Mountains, which are the rangers as mobile troops are wandering in all directions, suppressing bandits, deterring all parts of the grassland, and always in a state of combat readiness. As the supreme commander of this army, Dong Qianli said that he dared to fight, and he had his confidence, but Qin Wenhua did not agree with Dong Qianli's opinion, and when Dong Qianli expressed his attitude, he immediately said: "I thought that this war could not be fought, and now the five states of northern Xinjiang have just experienced a snow disaster, although the treatment is timely and effective, but it is still a heavy loss. If you are not careful, the situation in northern Xinjiang that has only been stabilized may collapse. ”

"It's okay, it's common for our troops to eat the enemy, and I want to come to the prairie to starve and not kill my ranger army!" Dong Qianli shook his head, and Hao replied disapprovingly.

"Brother Dong's words are wrong, although the rangers can act like this, the two armies of the infantry and cavalry are powerless for this, just with more than 20,000 people in the rangers, it may be difficult to make a big difference, of course, if it is a sneak attack to disrupt the situation, it is not impossible, but it is not enough to win, according to a certain point of view, this battle can be fought, but not a big fight, with a ranger attack, it is a good strategy to take advantage of the situation." Dong Qianli's indifferent posture made Qin Wenhua very annoyed, and he just wanted to refute it, but saw Chen Wu speak out first.

Although Chen Wu had already helped to reconcile the mud, Qin Wenhua's brows were still wrinkled, not because he was very dissatisfied with Dong Qianli's attitude, but because he was thinking in his heart whether the situation in Northern Xinjiang would change once the whole Ranger army attacked. I'm afraid it's difficult. ”

Dong Qianli was not happy when he heard it, his mouth was wide, and he was about to refute it, but when he saw Lin Chenghe, who had never said a word, he raised his hand and said: "What Qin Zhenfu said is reasonable, we can't be greedy for a moment and miss the current good situation in Anxi, this battle can be fought, but we must think about it in the long run." ”

Lin Chenghe is famous for his resourcefulness among the generals, as soon as he said this, the generals next to him were not good at saying anything else, and they looked at Lin Chenghe with blazing eyes, waiting for his next words, but Lin Chenghe did not say it directly, but looked at Chai Zhewei, who was quietly sitting in the first place, and bowed his hand very politely: "Chai Dudu, what do you think of this battle, and please give instructions, and the last general and others can also follow it." ”

Chai Zhewei was born in the general's door, has always been proud of being able to inherit his father's business, in the past in the Yulin army when there was no such opportunity, after arriving in Anxi, at the beginning was because of Li Zhen's suspicion, failed to get a good opportunity to make contributions, after which he won Li Zhen's trust and became the governor of Anxi, but the whole Anxi has no big war to fight, which makes Chai Zhewei sigh every time, this time in the face of the God-given opportunity to sweep the prairie, it is impossible to say that it is impossible not to move, But the current situation in Anxi makes Chai Zhewei dare not act rashly - grain and grass! Without sufficient food and grass, the army can not be dispatched at all, if it is reluctant to fight, then it has to be scraped by the people who have withered due to war and snowstorms, and this is a choice that Chai Zhewei is unwilling to make no matter what, but he gave up this opportunity in vain, but he is extremely reluctant in his heart, for the sake of war or not, Chai Zhewei has been thinking about it for more than a month, and has discussed it privately with Liu Qi many times, but he always can't come up with the best idea, originally counting on Li Zhen in the Beijing division to guide the maze, But I didn't want Li Zhen to completely let go of power this time, which caught Chai Zhewei off guard, and after discussing it with Liu Qi several times, he finally came up with a roughly feasible plan, but Chai Zhewei was calm by nature, and he didn't come up with his plan and entrust the generals out, but wanted to listen to the opinions of the generals first. Pointing to the large sand table on the table, he slowly spoke: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has a secret order, be sure to delay the civil strife of Xue Yantuo until after October, and with the ability to pull out the children, even if there are generals like Arutai to help, it is very difficult to be the opponent set up by magnanimity, once the war starts, it is very likely to collapse at the touch of a button, therefore, if our army does not fight, there is absolutely no possibility of completing the trust of His Royal Highness the Prince, in view of the urgency of the situation, this battle is inevitable, but it is a question of how to fight, what does Lin Zhenshou think?" ”

Lin Chenghe calmly arched his hand and said, "What the Metropolitan Governor said is very true, and the last general also thinks the same. ”

Chai Zhewei saw that Lin Chenghe agreed with his point of view, and his heart was suddenly relieved, and he nodded to Lin Chenghe with a little gratitude, and then continued: "I was initially determined in Anxi, the military food was insufficient, and because of His Majesty's expedition to Goguryeo, it was really difficult to transfer sufficient grain and grass from the pass, so it was absolutely impossible for the whole army to attack, but the only way to do it now was to take the risk of the army - the southern line of the old man temple He Dacai Department, the eastern front Lin Ting Department each made a big fanfare, pretending to be a general, set up more camps, more military flags, and the soldiers went in and out day and night, thinking that they were suspicious soldiers, Forced Dadu to set up a heavy army to defend the rear, so that it could not go all out to fight a decisive battle with Bazhuo, and then our army with an elite army to go to the red mountain mouth, steal the Altai Mountains, sneak into the prairie, wait for the two sides to fight, the camera moved, in order to disrupt the war situation, this is a strategy to fish in troubled waters, if the princes have doubts, a certain wish to be detailed. ”

This method of war is not rare at all, basically it is the original Dadu set up to send Fu Kui to stir up trouble in the dark, Chai Zhewei's move is just to use his own way to govern his body, the generals present are all people who know the soldiers, they know the sharpness of this tactic, but they also know that there is a great drawback in this tactic, that is, the person who leads the troops must be a strong general who can fight habitually, and must have a strong overall view, can accurately judge the key timing of the attack, and can grasp it, Not just anyone can afford this responsibility, in such a situation of no rear combat, a careless is the end of the annihilation of the entire army such as Fu Kui, who can do it has become the focus of the generals' consideration......

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